Princess Diana was once left “traumatised” by then-Prince Charles’ comments during their engagement interview in 1981, according to a biographer.
Diana, who would have turned 65 on July 1, 2026, was just 19 in the infamous interview. It aired in February of 1981, just months before she and Charles, then 32, tied the knot.
But the interview has gone down in the history for perhaps the wrong reasons…
Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ awkward engagement interview
In February 1981, Diana and Charles spoke to the media following their engagement. But one seemingly awkward moment got viewers chatting.
The awkwardness reached its peak when a reporter asked the royal couple whether they were “in love”.
“Of course,” Diana replied. However, it was Charles’ response that has gone down in history.
“Whatever in love means,” the then-Prince of Wales replied, drawing an awkward laugh from his bride-to-be.
Charles continued, saying that being “in love” was down to personal interpretation. The interviewer then remarked that they looked happy together.
The royal couple agreed, with Diana adding: “As you can see.”
Diana ‘admits Charles’ remark traumatised her’
However, though Diana appeared to laugh off Charles’ comment at the time, years later, she reportedly admitted that it left her “traumatised”.
In Andrew Morton’s authorised biography, Diana: In Her Own Words, she reportedly told the author: “We had this ghastly interview the day we announced our engagement. And this ridiculous [reporter] said, ‘Are you in love?’ I thought, what a thick question.
“So, I said, ‘Yes, of course, we are,’ and Charles turned round and said, ‘Whatever love means.’ And that threw me completely.”
“I thought, what a strange answer. It traumatised me,” she allegedly admitted.
Charles’ thinking explained
However, in her book, Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbably Life, royal author Sally Bedell Smith suggested that the then future king’s response was far more subtle than it first appeared.
“It was a totally inappropriate thing for him to say, but understandable given the way his mind worked and the kind of things he had said in prior years,” she said.
“You should look at those words in the context of the series of interviews he gave in the 1970s about what he wanted in a wife and what being in love was all about. He can overthink things and was thinking out loud. I don’t see it as a cynical, cruel statement.”
Charles and Diana’s wedding was one for the history books. It took place on July 29, 1981.
They tied the knot at St Paul’s Cathedral, with an estimated 750 million people tuning in from around the world.
However, 11 years later, the couple then split. Their divorce was finalised in 1996.
Tragically, in August 1997, Princess Diana died at the age of 36 following a car accident in Paris.
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